Zulu King Zwelithini partners with AfriForum to fight land expropriation

"Anyone who wants to be elected by us must come and kneel here and commit that I will never touch your land.” - Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini

Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini greets his supporters at The Moses Mabhida Football Stadium in Durban on October 7, 2018, during Umkhosi Welembe, an annual commemoration of Zulu King Shaka ka Senzangakhona, a revered military strategist who united the tribes to form the Zulu Nation. / AFP PHOTO / RAJESH JANTILAL

Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini has announced a partnership AfriForum, intended to rebuff the government’s land expropriation strategy.

Addressing a supportive crowd at the Moses Mabhida Football Stadium in Durban on 7 October, Zwelithini again reiterated his stance on the African National Congress’ (ANC) plans to expropriate land. The Zulu King denounced the government’s plans to seize communal land – adding that the sovereignty of the controversial Ingonyama Trust must be protected at all costs.

It’s not the first time that Zwelithini has threatened the ANC in defence of the Ingonyama Trust – 2.8 million hectares of communal tribal governed by the King. Earlier in the year, the monarch stated that the Zulu kingdom would secede from South Africa, should the government attempt to expropriate his land.

AfriForum, a civil rights group generally associated with protecting the liberties of Afrikaners, met with the Zulu King earlier in the year to discuss issues surrounding the contentious topic of land expropriation without compensation.

Zulu King Zwelithini announces partnership with AfriForum

Zulu King Zwelithini has now confirmed that he is working together with AfirForum in a bid to promote agricultural development and uphold food security. The monarch’s public address, in which he announced the partnership, was televised by eNCA.

Speaking to the thousands of supporters gathered at the stadium, Zwelithini said:

“The Zulu nation I’m talking about will not exist if we don’t have food. That’s why I say farmers must come closer so that we discuss what we can do when we talk about agriculture and the availability of enough food in the land.”

Zwelithini explained that AfriForum was dedicated to the preservation of food security, and as such, was opposed to land expropriation without compensation, saying:

“I’m asking AfriForum of the Boers to come and help us, as they’ve introduced themselves to me that they are willing to work with me and my father’s people to uplift agriculture in our land in order to have food.

Because when government started talking about the appropriation of land expropriation without compensation, Boers downed tools. There is no food in South Africa.”

Zwelithini says ANC must kneel before him

In light of next year’s General Elections, Zwelithini issued a harsh warning to the ruling ANC, warning the party that unless it resolved to halt the expropriation of communal land, the Zulu kingdom would withdraw its support at the ballot box. Zwelithini said:

“Anyone who wants to be voted for and elected by us, I’m going to talk now, anyone who wants to be elected by us must come and kneel here and commit that I will never touch your land.”